Pharmacy chain Walgreen takes 45% stake in Alliance Boots | Business | The Guardian Alliance Boots Pharmacy chain Walgreen takes 45% stake in Alliance Boots Merger of largest chemist chains in the US and Europe creates a global health and beauty giant with more than 11,000 shops Boots the Chemist owner Alliance Boots said it was committed to its current European offices, including its Nottingham home. Photograph: Sergio Dionisio/AP Alliance Boots Pharmacy chain Walgreen takes 45% stake in Alliance Boots Merger of largest chemist chains in the US and Europe creates a global health and beauty giant with more than 11,000 shops Tuesday 19 June 2012 14.38 EDT First published on Tuesday 19 June 2012 14.38 EDT Close This article is 4 years old The chemist chain Boots is being sold to the American retail company Walgreens in a £10bn deal that is delivering a huge pay-day for its private equity owners. The sale means the chain's owner, Alliance Boots , is being absorbed by a company that is twice its size with annual sales of more than £45bn.

British favourites such as No7 lipsticks and Soltan sun lotion will be exported to the US, where shoppers will be able to pick them up alongside groceries in Walgreens' chain of almost 8,000 drugstores. Walgreens is initially buying a 45% stake in Alliance Boots for £4.3bn, but it intends to buy the remainder for another £6bn within three years. The deal is a coup for the firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina, who snatched Alliance Boots off the stock exchange in 2007 in a controversial £12.2bn takeover backed with £9bn of debt. At the time it was Europe's biggest ever private equity deal and KKR and Pessina were accused of loading what was termed a British institution with a mountain of debt. But on Tuesday the investors looked set to nearly triple their original investments of more than £1bn each. Pessina, 70, who is based in Monaco, insisted the deal was not opportunistic but fulfilled a lifetime's dream to create a global retail and pharmacy group. "I'm not looking for money," he said. "How could I do a deal to kill Boots?

I have done a deal to make Boots more visible, more international, that will create a lot of new markets for Boots." No job cuts were planned, the companies said, as there was little geographical overlap between the two businesses. The ownership of Alliance Boots is split three ways between Pessina, KKR and "silent investors" affiliated to KKR. All three groups sold 45% of their holding. Pessina will eventually collect £3.4bn, with his first-stage payment of £1.4bn in Walgreens shares. KKR and the linked investors will get the same amount but are being paid predominantly in cash. KKR said it had invested £1.2bn in 2007 with the first instalment alone paying out that sum in cash as well as 7m Walgreens shares, worth £140m, on top. "Following five years of successful performance, the company is now in a better position than ever before," said KKR partner Dominic Murphy, adding that the deal would lay the "foundation for future growth". The owners of Alliance Boots will acquire another £6bn in cash and shares when Walgreens presses the button for a full merger, when it will also take on Boots' debt.

No dividends have been paid since the 2007 deal with spare cash used to reduce its debt, which at the last count stood at £7bn. Pessina, however, made about £500m at the time of the Alliance Boots de-listing as he did not roll his entire shareholding into the private company. Pessina signalled his commitment to the business by opting to be paid in shares, acquiring an 8% stake in Walgreens and taking a seat on its board. Pessina, who turned his family's ailing Naples drug wholesaler into the pharmacy company Alliance UniChem, which merged with Boots in 2006, said the manufacturing jobs in Nottingham were safe. He said the site would be the research and development centre for the merged group and new jobs could be created if Boots' own-brand products , which include Botanics and Boots Pharmaceuticals, were required in greater volumes. Pessina had already hinted that his preferred exit would be via another merger rather than a fresh stock exchange listing: "If you do an IPO, you create financial value," he said.

"If you do a transformational deal, you create financial value and industrial value." Walgreens is keeping its headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois and its chief executive, Gregory Wasson, revealed that the companies had started talks about 18 months ago. "Stefano and I have got to know each other well over the last couple of years," he said, adding that he was "impressed" with the Boots chain. "Boots is to the UK much as Walgreens is to the US, both are iconic brands with similar cultures and long heritages,'' he said. The US firm was founded by the entrepreneur Charles Walgreen, who became a pharmacist after cutting the top off his middle finger working in a shoe factory. He went on to open his first store in Chicago in 1901. Boots traces its history back to 1849 when John Boot opened the first store selling herbal remedies in Goose Gate, Nottingham. Following the takeover by KKR and Pessina, the group's headquarters shifted to Zug in Switzerland. The move led to scrutiny of its tax affairs and has made it a target for protest groups like UK Uncut.

Last year's profits were pulled down by finance charges of £434m relating to its multibillion-pound debts with finance director George Fairweather stating interest payments were a "valid expense for tax purposes". The merger is expected to deliver cost-savings of more than £600m within four years and Kantar Retail analyst Bryan Roberts said the lion's share of the savings would come from better drugs procurement with the enlarged group the world's largest purchaser of prescription drugs. He added that Boots was the "better retailer" with Walgreens stores cashing in on their prime locations by also selling convenience foods as well as cigarettes, alcohol and even dog food. In recent months Walgreen has reported flagging sales and with the two-stage process valuing Alliance Boots at £10.4bn, the deal was not well received however by Walgreens investors; shares fell sharply after the announcement.

Nils Pratley: The original buyout was highly leveraged but healthcare, it seems, really is the most recession-resistant part of the retailing economy Published: 19 Jun 2012 .com Boots UK Limited [2] (formerly Boots the Chemists Limited), trading as Boots, is a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with outlets in most high streets , shopping centres and airport terminals. The company's former parent, [3] The Boots Company Plc, merged with Alliance UniChem in 2006 to form Alliance Boots . [4] In 2007, Alliance Boots was bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina , taking the company private, and moving its headquarters to Switzerland, the first ever FTSE 100 company bought by a private equity firm. In 2012, Walgreens bought a 45 percent stake Alliance Boots, with the option to buy the rest within three years. It exercised this option in 2014, and as a result Boots became a subsidiary of the new company, Walgreens Boots Alliance , on 31 December 2014.

The company operates a number of stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland, primarily in high streets and shopping centres. It sells a large number of health and beauty products, and additionally provides optician and hearing care services within stores and as standalone practices. Boots additionally operates a retail website and runs a loyalty card programme branded as the Boots Advantage Card. History 1849 to 2000 Boots was established in 1849, by John Boot . After his father's death in 1860, Jesse Boot, aged 10, helped his mother run the family's herbal medicine shop in Nottingham, which was incorporated as Boot and Co. Ltd. in 1883, fitting Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd. in 1888. In 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company . [5] Notwithstanding because of deteriorating economic circumstances in North America Boots was sold back into British hands in 1933. [5] The grandson of the founder, John Boot , who inherited the title Baron Trent from his father, headed the company. The Boots Pure Drug Company name was changed to The Boots Company Limited in 1971.

Boots diversified into the research and manufacturing of drugs with its development of the Ibuprofen painkiller throughout the 1960s, invented by Stewart Adams . The company was awarded the Queen's Award For Technical Achievement for this in 1987. A major research focus of Boots in the 1980s was the drug for congestive heart failure Manoplax . [6] The withdrawal from market of Manoplax due to safety concerns in 1993 caused major pressure from investors, and in 1994, Boots divested its prescription drugs division, which had become no longer viable, to BASF . [7] [9] In 2006, it sold the Nurofen brand to Reckitt Benckiser . [2] The 2006 sale of Boots Healthcare International included everything made by Crookes Healthcare , based on the Nottingham site. In 1968 Boots acquired the 622-strong Timothy Whites and Taylors Ltd chain. [5] Boots expanded into Canada by purchasing the Tamblyn Drugs chain circa 1978.

Most Canadian Boots stores were converted to Pharma Plus in 1989, although a handful of locations remained as late as 1993, if not later. In 1982, the company opened a new manufacturing plant in Cramlington , Northumberland. [5] In the early 1990s, Boots began to diversify and bought Halfords , the bicycle and car parts business in 1991. [2] It additionally developed the Children's World business but sold it in 1996 to Mothercare . [2] Halfords was sold in 2002. [2] Boots Opticians Ltd. was formed in 1987 with the acquisition of Clement Clarke Ltd. and Curry and Paxton Ltd. Boots Opticians became the UK's second largest retail optics chain. Boots diversified into dentistry in 1998, with a number of stores offering this service. [2] Boots sold its Do-It-All home furnishings chain to Focus in 1998.

[2] Boots additionally made a venture into "Wellbeing" services offering customers treatments ranging from facials , homoeopathy , and nutritional advice to laser eye surgery and Botox but these services were abandoned in 2003, notwithstanding a launch that included a dedicated Freeview and Sky TV channel of the same name, and even redirecting web traffic from boots.com to wellbeing.com [2] 2000 to present In late 2004, Boots sold its laser eye surgery business to Optical Express . [2] In October 2005, a merger with Alliance UniChem was announced by the then chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd . The CEO Richard Baker left, and the new group became Alliance Boots plc. The merger became effective on 31 July 2006. [2] Alliance Boots was purchased by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina , the deputy chairman of the company, in April 2007 for £11.1 billion, taking the company private and beating a rival bid from Guy Hands ' Terra Firma Capital Partners . [19] This was the first ever instance of a FTSE 100 company having bought by a private equity firm.

[20] In June 2008, the group headquarters were moved to Zug, Switzerland . According to John Ralfe, Boots' former head of corporate finance, "the UK has lost about £100m a year in tax as result". [21] 'Boots the Chemists Limited' was re-registered under the name 'Boots UK Limited' on 1 October 2007. [3] Management of all staff was moved to Boots Management Services Limited on July 1, 2010. [3] On 19 June 2012, it was announced that Walgreens , the United States' largest drug store chain, would purchase a 45 percent stake in Alliance Boots for US$6.7 billion. The deal was said to be a long term plan to give maximum exposure to both brands, Boots more so in the US and, Walgreens more so in the UK and in China through Boots' presence in that market. The deal gave the option to complete a full merger of the organisations within three years costing an additional $9.5bn.

[3] Walgreens confirmed on 6 August 2014 that it would purchase the remaining 55 percent and merge with Alliance Boots to form a new holding company, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. [3] Walgreens and Boots both become subsidiaries of the new company on 31 December 2014. In April 2016, the Pharmacists' Defence Association stated that company managers were exploiting the NHS by insisting that each outlet carry out medicine use reviews , even if patients didn’t need them. The NHS pays £28 per review up to a maximum of 400 per store. [3] The Guardian stated that the General Pharmaceutical Council was poised to investigate. [3] The paper subsequently noted a letter purporting to be from an "independent pharmacist" criticising its stance on the issue which it identified as coming from one of the firm's vice presidents. [3] Following the Guardian reports, Boots announced the departure of UK operations director, Simon Roberts , in June 2016. [3] Products Boots sells medicines, health and beauty products. It has a food and drink range in the form of lunchtime meal deals.

[4] The Boots Charitable Trust The company funds the Boots Charitable Trust, which is an independent registered charity in the UK, administrated by Nottinghamshire Community Foundation. The trust was established in the early 1970s to fund registered charities benefiting people who live in Nottinghamshire. [4] The Boots Estate The Boots Estate, located near the Nottingham suburb of Beeston , features a range of listed buildings . This includes the two principal factory buildings, D6 and D10, designed by Sir Owen Williams and built in 1932 and 1935–38 respectively. Both are Grade I listed. The former fire station, D34, is additionally by Williams and is Grade II listed. The headquarters office building known as D90 is Grade II* and was built to designs by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1966–68. [4] Staff have a restaurant, coffee and snack shops, newsagent, a branch of Boots the Chemist, an opticians branch and cash point situated within landscaped grounds.

The grounds include the Millennium Garden, which features a herb garden (with a few plants that Jesse used in his original herbal remedies) in the shape of a goose foot – harking back to Jesse's original shop on Goose Gate, Nottingham . The Boots Museum is now closed; however, historical items are in storage or on display in the reception area of the D90 building. An advertisement for Boots from 1911 Boots branch in Yorkshire Boots Heritage Boots Heritage home 1849 1877 1885 1892 1898 1915 1921 1925 1928 1933 1936 1947 1953 1970 1985 1990 1996 2001 2008 2012 Boots Heritage Boots is now a household name with stores all over the world and a number of hugely successful own-brand ranges. It’s risen from humble beginnings to become the well-known and loved company it is today.

This timeline charts the development of the business from its first days as a herbalist store in Nottingham in the mid 1800s to its position as a modern global brand. 1849 John Boot opened the first herbalist store in Nottingham offering an affordable alternative to traditional medicines. The Thomsonian system of healthcare, first developed in the US, appealed to the devoutly religious John, as it offered a practical approach to enable the poorest to help themselves. 1850 Jesse Boot was born in Nottingham. 1870 John's widow, Mary Boot, and son, Jesse began trading as M & J Boot, Herbalists. Jesse was rewarded with a partnership in the family business, having left school at the age of 13 to give full time support to his mother. The sale of herbs was a big feature of the early business and included roots, plants, and flowers collected locally, many of them dried on the parlour walls at the back of the shop and then powdered. 1877 By the late 1870s the working classes were transferring their allegiance from herbalism to patent remedies, encouraged by heavy advertising that growing numbers were able to read.

When Jesse took sole control of the business in 1877 he launched an extensive advertising campaign under the slogan ‘health for a shilling’ which positioned Boots as the store which offered traditional medicines at greatly reduced prices. 1883 Boot & Company Ltd formed. 1884 Jesse Boot appointed his first qualified pharmacist, Edwin Waring. Waring’s principles were closely aligned to Jesse’s and within just a few years his dispensing services were offered at half the price charged by the other chemists in Nottingham. 1885 Early manufacturing took place in a small cottage close to the store in Nottingham. However as demands from the expanding store network grew, space was found in a factory on Island Street in Nottingham which had excellent rail, road and canal transportation links. Within just a few years Boots had taken over the entire factory and acquired further properties nearby. 1886 Jesse married Florence Annie Rowe. They had met the previous year when Jesse took a much-needed holiday to Jersey. Florence, the daughter of a bookseller and stationers, took a keen interest in the business, introducing new product ranges and progressive staff welfare initiatives. 1888 Company renamed Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd.

1892 A flagship department style store was opened in Pelham Street, Nottingham. The impressive new shop showcased the varied array of products now available at Boots, from the dispensary, perfumery and stationery on the ground floor to the pictures, glass and fancy goods on the upstairs gallery. The exquisite interior design was heavily influenced by Jesse’s wife Florence. Impressed by the latest innovations, such as electric lighting, the store "took the public fancy amazingly". The Pelham Street shop became the model for future Boots stores. 1894 The Boots Athletic Club was founded. The social club was open to all employees and encompassed a number of sports ranging from cricket to skittles. Jesse and Florence Boot were keen to promote sports and social clubs, seeing them as beneficial to their employees health as well as encouraging camaraderie and team spirit. 1895 Boots pioneered the use of analytical chemistry as a means of quality control with the appointment of the first analytical chemist. The department soon developed and it became an established principle within the company that nothing should be sent out to the stores without first passing a number of rigorous examinations. 1898 Boots Booklovers’ Library was established.

Within just a few years around half of Boots stores had library facilities. The service promoted the pleasure of reading to a wider audience and the small subscription fees made literature affordable. The libraries had a significant impact: at their height in 1938, books were being exchanged at a rate of 35 million a year. By the time of their closure they had firmly established themselves within British popular culture. 1911 Eleanor Kelly was appointed as the company’s first full time welfare professional. Her responsibilities involved the welfare of all female members of staff in Nottingham. Within just a few years and with the help of three assistants, Eleanor renovated the girls’ canteen and opened a company sick room. 1913 The first free educational provision was established for employees through the offer of a series of evening classes run in partnership with Nottingham’s Education Committee. By 1920 this opportunity was extended as employees aged between 14 and 16 were granted half a day a week to study a variety of vocational and academic lessons at the Boots Day Continuation School. 1915 During the First World War Britain lost its supply of chemicals from Germany.

In order to bridge the gap, Jesse brought together a team of experts to begin the research and manufacture of key synthetic chemicals such as aspirin. Boots created a new manufacturing process which involved seventeen different analytical tests, and claimed that their aspirin was the “purest on the market”. The company was soon supplying the British Government with medicines for field hospitals and manufacturing products such as water sterilizing tablets which, at a concentration of 1 in 300,000, claimed to destroy the organisms of cholera, typhoid, coli and dysentery in about thirty minutes. The first employee magazine was produced to raise money for colleagues who were serving in the armed forces. In total twelve editions of the magazine Comrades in Khaki were printed between1915 and 1916. Each one carried a letter from Jesse and Florence and contained news, letters and photographs from employees both at home and overseas. After the war, the company launched two new magazines, The Bee and The Beacon, which further developed the “bond of union” between the company and its employees. 1919 Boots products first became available to buy overseas in India. A network of agents was soon established throughout the world to market the Boots brand abroad.

1920 Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd sold to the United Drug Company of America. 1921 The first works surgery was opened with a part-time medical officer. Within just a few years the professional team had risen to twenty. “The Company has recognised that its responsibility does not end with the weekly pay envelope”. Boots registered its first pharmaceutical patent. Stabilarsan, an effective treatment for syphilis was approved by the Ministry for Health for use in public institutions. It was the first arsenical preparation introduced in a solution ready for injection. 1923 Boots became one of just four companies licensed by the British Medical Research Council to undertake the mass production of the newly discovered, life saving drug. Four thousand employees welcomed the Prince of Wales to the Island Street Factory site. During his visit he was given a tour of the Packed Goods Department and the Research and Pharmaceutical Laboratories. 1924 A number of Boots stores opened surgical departments selling specialist equipment. These areas were supported by qualified nurses. Services included baby weighing, home visits and measurement taking and advice on surgical trusses and belts. 1925 A 24 hour pharmacy was opened at the Boots store in Piccadilly Circus.

The service was available countrywide, as medicines were distributed wherever they were needed. 1926 John Boot, Jesse and Florence’s son became Chairman of Boots Pure Drug Company. 1927 A two hundred acre site was purchased at Beeston in Nottingham to expand manufacturing capability, as the existing sites in the centre of Nottingham had reached full capacity. 1928 University College, Nottingham transferred to a large new campus, thanks to a significant donation of land and money from Jesse Boot. 1929 Jesse Boot died at the age of 81 1933 The D10 factory on the Beeston site was hailed in the press as the ‘factory of Utopia’. Designed by the renowned engineer, Owen Williams, it was praised for its impressive size, functional design and innovative features. The factory epitomised the scientific credentials of the company, where modern equipment brought efficiencies in production and improvements to working conditions. The 1000th Boots store opened in Galashiels, Scotland. The company came back into British ownership 1934 The company announced a reduction in working hours from 5½ days to a 5- day week, without a reduction in pay, for all D10 factory staff.

This was made possible by the incredible efficiency of the new D10 factory. Conscious of the country’s unemployment problems, John Boot took the unprecedented decision to reduce working hours, rather than opt for redundancies, as a way of finding a more socially responsible solution. The experiment became a permanent fixture the following year when the beneficial effects of the changes had been investigated: “the general feeling is one of great appreciation, many people have said that it is the finest thing the firm has done for them”. 1935 The original ‘Number Seven’ range was the company’s answer to providing a prestigious but affordable beauty range. Distinctive in its yellow and blue art deco packaging, the range encapsulated fifty years of beauty experience. It consisted of 11 products and was advertised as being “the modern way to loveliness”. Specialist consultants were brought in to give expert customer advice and some stores even opened Number Seven Beauty Salons. 1936 The first overseas Boots branch opened in New Zealand in Wellington. Speaking at a dinner in Wellington in 1936, the company Chairman, John Boot declared: “Profit is not our main objective.

But we are proud of the great health and domestic service that we have built up, and we believe that we can extend that service gradually in the British Empire and make the benefits of our methods and our organisation accessible… overseas.” 1939 Boots sun tan creams had been popular since the 1920s, but the launch of Soltan addressed customers’ desire for a non-greasy lotion. Launched as a cream and a lotion, the fantastic summer of 1939 helped to make the brand an instant success. 1944 Boots began mass manufacturing penicillin The Ministry of Supply asked the company to design and operate a ‘surface culture’ plant for the mass production of penicillin. At the time, the Boots factory was the world’s largest antibiotics manufacturing facility. “Boots saved unnumbered lives and prevented immeasurable pain, by producing in quantity, at very short notice, the desperately needed penicillin” 1947 International wholesale and manufacturing business expanded. 1949 Boots Pure Drug Company (India) began trading in 1946 and a new pharmaceutical factory was commissioned with production starting at the Sion factory in Bombay in 1949.

1951 Boots became the first UK chemist store to introduce self-service stores. Boots opened its first self service store at Burnt Oak, Edgware in London. It was amongst the first examples of self service in retail in the UK. 1953 Boots responded to the growing teenage market with the launch of its vibrant 17 range. Timothy Whites & Taylors Ltd chemist’s chain acquired adding 622 new stores. 1969 Ibuprofen was launched as a prescription drug called Brufen in February 1969, and was the result of 16 years of research. Dr Stewart Adams led a research team, which began work in 1953. They tested over 1,500 new compounds during their search before Brufen could be marketed as a potent non-steroidal antirheumatic agent. By 1980 Brufen had become the U.K’s no 1 anti-inflammatory treatment.

“It is a curious irony, and at the same time fitting and appropriate, that the world’s most widely prescribed compound for rheumatoid diseases was developed at The Boots Company, because the company’s founder, Jesse Boot, was a victim of this painful and crippling disease”. 1970 The Boots Charitable Trust was set up to fund and support charities in Nottinghamshire. To date, over its forty year lifetime, Boots Charitable Trust has donated around £10m to health, lifelong learning and community development in Nottinghamshire. 1983 Boots trialled its first optical in-store practice in Nottingham and followed it with six further practices in the following year. By March 1986 the total had risen to sixty eight. 1984 Boots received the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement for the discovery and development of ibuprofen. 1987 Boots Opticians was formed and became the UK’s second largest optical retail chain following the acquisition of Clement Clarke and Curry and Paxton Ltd. The first free standing Boots Opticians practice opened in September 1987, in Durham. 1989 Natural Collection was launched.

The brand proposition was 'fun, colourful and exotic' and the range consisted of hair, skin and bath products containing essences of rich tropical fruits, a variety of herbs and exotically scented flowers. 1990 Boots Contract Manufacturing and Boots International were established. 1992 Boots launched UVA star rating for its sun care range. 1995 Botanics skincare range launched. The range combined sophisticated high-tech formulations using the most effective natural ingredients. It was positioned as a skincare range using natural extracts scientifically formulated. Boots Pharmaceuticals sold to BASF. 1996 Botanics skincare range launched. The range combined sophisticated high-tech formulations using the most effective natural ingredients. It was positioned as a skincare range using natural extracts scientifically formulated. Boots Pharmaceuticals sold to BASF. 1997 Launch of Boots Laboratories skincare range in France and Portugal. 2009 Merger of Boots Opticians and Dollond & Aitchison to form the second largest optical chain in the UK. Launch of BootsWebMD.com offering customers a health and wellness information portal. Boots Extracts Fairtrade was launched and became one of the first complete ranges of beauty care products to be certified as containing Fairtrade ingredients.

Prince Charles visited the Boots site in Nottingham to discover more about the company’s corporate social responsibility activities, in particular environmental progress. Launch of No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum. 2010 Boots brands were sold directly to third party retailers in the US and other countries. In partnership with Mothercare, Boots introduced ‘mini club’ – a new clothing and accessories brand for babies and children up to six years old. Boots Pharmaceuticals launched. 2012 American drug store chain Walgreens acquired a 45% stake in Alliance Boots. Both Boots UK and Boots Opticians were ranked in the ‘Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to work for’ awards for the third year running. 2013 Boots Pure Drug Co - Graces Guide Grace's Guide British Industrial History Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 121,941 pages of information and 183,433 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them. Boots Pure Drug Co 1933. New Factory designed by Sir E. Owen Williams, M.Inst.C.E. 1933.

Conveyor Plant at the New Factory at Beeston. May 1935. November 1936. Stamford Street Store, London. 1938. of Station Street, Nottingham. Telephone: 3160 Nottingham. Telegrams: "Drug, Nottingham". (1922) Ditto Address and Cables. Telephone: Nottingham: 45501. (1929) Ditto all. (1947) 1815 John Boot was born in Radcliffe-on-Trent. He started work as an agricultural labourer before travelling to attend services at Wesleyan chapels in the Lace Market area of Nottingham. Herbal remedies were popular at that time as the labouring poor could not afford the services of a physician. Boot's mother had used herbs for healing and he may have been familiar with remedies published in John Wesley's herbal Primitive Physic. 1849 With the help of his father-in-law and the support of the local Methodist community, he opened The British and American Botanic Establishment at 6 Goose Gate, hoping to provide physical comfort to the needy, as well as a reasonable living for his family.

In addition to giving consultations and serving in the shop, John and his wife, Mary, prepared many remedies themselves. By 1851 John Boot had moved to Hockley. It was a poor area so he became involved in chapel affairs and local schemes to improve living conditions within his community. 1860 John Boot died at the age of 45, after years of hard work and ill-health,. Mary took over management of the shop, with the help of her ten year-old son, Jesse, who gathered and prepared herbs and served behind the counter. c.1871 When Jesse Boot was 21, he became a partner in the business, which began to trade under the name of M. and J. Boot, Herbalists. Determined to cut his prices, he preferred cash to credit. With extensive advertising, he began to sell a wider range of stock and advertised "over 2,000 articles". 1877 Jesse took sole control of the shop, became one of the busiest shopkeepers and the largest dealer in patent medicines in Nottingham. 1879 Success brought hostility from many fellow chemists, who criticised his cut-prices and tried to cast doubt on some of Boot's products.

The House of Lords supported the right of general stores and companies, as well as traditional chemists, to dispense medicines. 1881 With financial support from several local business contacts, Jesse Boot took on a lease of a vacant property at 16-20 Goosegate. He converted the building into a new shop which contained the retail and wholesale areas, workshops, stockrooms, offices and living accommodation. 1883 The business became a private concern, Boot and Company Limited, with himself as chairman and managing director. The success of the Goosegate shop inspired Jesse Boot to repeat the expansion elsewhere. He bought vacant properties all over Nottingham. They were usually in poorer districts so properties were reasonably cheap and he refurbished them all similarly. Each was opened to a fanfare of publicity. The growth of the railway network allowed Jesse to consider a much larger operation. 1884 The first Boots store outside Nottingham was opened, at Snig Hill in Sheffield. 1884 Jesse found and appointed Edwin Warin, a qualified pharmacist, in order to offer dispensing services, thus bringing with him the professional prestige that the business needed.

1885 Jesse Boot, suffering from overwork, took a holiday in Jersey, where he met Florence Rowe, the daughter of a bookseller and stationer in St. Helier. They were married the following year and John, their first child was born in 1889. Florence enjoyed the retail side of the company introducing books, stationery, fancy goods, artists' materials and picture frames. Jesse and Florence began to develop a concept of Boots shops as department stores. 1885 Then followed an investment in the manufacturing side of the business. Jesse wanted the company to be self-contained so that he could control both prices and quality and to be the 'Largest, Best and Cheapest'. He then took a lease on three rooms in Island Street in Nottingham. 1888 To build public confidence in the quality and purity of his products, Jesse renamed the business Boots Pure Drug Company Limited. The company was registered on 7 November. [1] 1891 Jesse secured the lease on a property in Nottingham town centre. The premises were largely rebuilt, with a gallery supported by a colonnade of cast iron pillars and mahogany counters. This became the model for future Boots stores throughout the country.

By 1892 he had taken over the whole building and further properties around Island Street and Parkinson Street. Over 80 staff, including a large proportion of women, were employed in packing, bottling, shop fitting, printing, advertising, laboratory work and accounts. The Island Street works were ideally sited for developing the company's distribution system as they were convenient to the canal, main roads and railway stations,. By 1893 Jesse had opened 33 stores, with 7 branches in Nottingham, and extended further south, into East Anglia, and the West Midlands. 1900 At the turn of the century, there were 250 Boots stores in the retail chain. As well as opening new branches, Jesse acquired existing chemist's firms, including William Day's Southern Drug Company, a chain of 60 stores in London and the south of England. Florence Boot, inspired by her interest in literature and the arts, founded a subscription library, the Boots Booklovers' Library. She also had the idea of opening elegant cafés in the larger stores. These had an impact on sales, attracted the more affluent middle classes to shop at Boots and encouraged loyalty.

1908 The Pharmacy Act confirmed the legal right of large companies and stores such as Boots to offer dispensing services. 1911 The Health Insurance Act extended medical benefits to ordinary working people and there was a dramatic increase in the number of prescriptions. 1913 Sales in the 560 Boots stores across England Wales and Scotland amounted to over £2.5 million a year. Boots made a significant contribution to the war effort, producing items for men at the Front, such as water sterilizers, vermin powder and anti-fly cream. Many fine chemicals, such as aspirin and saccharin, had previously been imported from Germany; Jesse anticipated a shortage in supply. He enlarged the company's scientific laboratories and production facilities and manufactured for the government, domestic and overseas buyers. Over 900 women were involved in the manufacture of box respirators, used as gas masks. Over 5 million of these were produced throughout the war. Post-WW1. Jesse Boot began to consider the company's future. He anticipated that the business would soon face a post-war depression, as well as greater competition. Increasingly disabled by arthritis, Jesse would soon need to relinquish control.

1920 Louis Liggett, the head of the United Drug Company, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in America, made an offer to purchase the company for £2.25 million and the sale was agreed. 1922 British Industries Fair Advert. List of British made Chemicals. Manufacturers of fine Chemicals, Synthetic Drugs and Perfumes, Pharmaceuticals, Soaps and Toilet preparations. (Stand No. A.6) [2] John Boot, Jesse's son was invited by Liggett to travel to America and study the production methods and organisation of the parent company. Certain problems were evident within the Boots business by 1920, including the difficulty of communicating with over 600 stores across the country. The company was re-organised, with a new committee structure and an emphasis on centralisation and efficiency. The introduction of a hierarchy of Territorial Managers also provided a career structure for pharmacists within the company. John Boot was associated with most of the new developments within the business and became chairman in 1927. 1929 The Depression in America forced L. K. Liggett Company into bankruptcy and Liggett was forced to sell his holding in Boots.

The company began to establish an agricultural division. The new Soap Works, 'D1', was built. 1929 British Industries Fair Advert for the Manufacture and Export of Fine Chemicals, Research Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Tablets, Pills, Lozenges and Proprietary Medicines. Also Toilet Products. (Chemicals etc. Section - Stand Nos. K.96 and K.99) [3] 1933 The company was sold to a group of British financiers for just over £6m, with John Boot as chairman and managing director. His ideas for the direction and management of the business - to preserve the 'Boot tradition' to expand the business and serve the public, but also to treat his employees well - were very close to those of his father. Investment in the retail chain continued; the 1000th Boots store was opened in Galashiels. The famous 'D10' "Wets" factory was completed and was so efficient, that the working week for its workforce was reduced from 47.5 hours to 42.5 hours. Rapid expansion of the retail side meant that factory and warehouse capacity needed to grow as well.

A new site at Beeston was chosen and land was acquired between the canal and the railway, reached by a new bridge across the railway line. A Works Planning Committee was established to consider the development of the site, and members toured Britain, Europe and America to study the layout of manufacturing plants. 1934 A five day week was introduced, with no cut in pay. Lord Trent purchased the Ardnamurchan Estate in Argyll, Scotland, part of which was farmed by the company, to help research and development of horticultural and veterinary products by practical farming experience. 1935 Boot's No 7 range of cosmetics was launched, in an art deco livery of blue and yellow. To support the new brand, Beauty Parlours were introduced in a number of stores, including Regent Street, London. The Booklovers' Library was also flourishing, with branches in 450 stores supporting over half a million subscribers. WWII The company and staff contributed greatly to the War Effort. John Boot himself was appointed Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence for the North Midlands, as well as remaining chairman of the company. Boots manufacturing capacity was vital.

Three million pounds weight of saccharin was produced (the equivalent of 731,000 tons of sugar, a commodity which was strictly rationed). Fifty million bottles of orange juice were packed for the Ministry of Food, and 1,500 tons of Chloramine were produced, for water sterilisation in Europe, Africa and the Far East. Boots manufactured penicillin in the largest surface culture plant in the country, designed and managed on behalf of the Ministry of Supply. Pharmaceutical research continued; 29 products were added to the existing portfolio, 12 of which were previously made only in Germany. As many as 7,000 employees were away on war duty and by the end of the war 381 members of staff had been killed in battle or air raids. Qualified pharmacists were called up later than the general population because of the importance of their civilian work. Some stores were used as First Aid posts with first-aiders or qualified nurses in attendance. Boots staff also took the Civil Defence ARP test and worked as Air Raid Wardens.

From October 1942 until May 1945 six wardens were supplied every night for the Deep Tube Shelter at Clapham Station. Thirty-three shops were destroyed, including stores in Manchester, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Coventry and Swansea. The print works at Station Street in Nottingham were destroyed, in May 1941. Measures were taken to protect the D10 factory at Beeston against damage. To protect stocks, new warehouses in Nottingham and Lancashire were used in place of those in London, and greater quantities of stocks and raw materials were kept by stores. Refrigerators were installed throughout the country to store insulin for diabetics. The company was involved in War Savings Certificates. Assistance was given to the Ministry of Agriculture, by distributing their leaflets concerning food production through Boots stores. Boots also contributed to the 'Dig for Victory' campaign and approximately 40 acres of land around the Beeston factories was planted out with vegetables, which were used to supply the canteens. 1942 Boots equipped and staffed a Mobile Infant Welfare Unit, which was sent to blitzed cities where help was urgently needed.

Numerous staff assisted at Infant Welfare Clinics and Day Nurseries around the country. The Piccadilly branch was lent to the Red Cross for a Prisoners of War Exhibition and many other stores displayed specimen food parcels to promote the idea to the general public. Boots were also involved in the salvage of metal tubes, the proceeds of which went to the Red Cross. 1947 British Industries Fair Advert as Manufacturers of Special Medical Products; Pharmaceutical Specialities; Fine Chemicals; Veterinary and Horticultural Products; Toilet Preparations. Cosmetics, Sops, Industrial Chemicals, Galenicals** and Tablets, Potassium Permanganate, Saccharin. (Chemicals etc. Section - Olympia, Ground Floor, Stand No. A.1193) [4] Post-WWII. Factory development began in Nottingham, the major part being completed by 1953. This included a new power house, printing works. 1947 New laboratories for horticultural research at Lenton, Nottingham and Thurgarton, were completed. There was also expansion overseas.

A retail company had been formed in New Zealand in 1936; and over the next 30 years manufacturing businesses were established in India, Pakistan, Australia and Canada. 1948 There were developments in the world of pharmacy and retailing. 1948 saw the inauguration of the National Health Service. This led to a vast increase in dispensing and the demand for drugs. 1949 a factory for the manufacture of cosmetics was opened at Airdrie, in Scotland. 1952 The company's agricultural division also expanded; by 1952 the company was farming 4,500 acres in England and Scotland. 1956 Some self-service stores were opened and other branches were re-modelled to give partial self-service. 1959, a new pharmaceutical research building was completed. 1965 It was announced that the Booklovers' Library was to close - the last branch shut in 1966. Note: ** Galenical - 1. A medicinal preparation composed mainly of herbal or vegetable matter. 2. A remedy prepared according to an official formula.

[5] See Also Boots deal nets 'king of pharmacies' a £6bn stake in Walgreens - Telegraph Boots deal nets 'king of pharmacies' a £6bn stake in Walgreens Stefano Pessina receives 18pc stake in the $57bn US pharmacy giant A look at how to get the best Boots Black Friday deals Photo: AFP By Ashley Armstrong , and Ben Marlow 6:46AM BST 07 Aug 2014 Stefano Pessina, the architect of Walgreens’ full-scale merger with Alliance Boots, will end up with an 18pc stake in the US pharmacy giant following the transatlantic deal. The Italian billionaire already had an 8pc stake in Walgreens but will receive another tranche of shares, which will see his enlarged holding valued at approximately $10bn (£6bn). The American company is currently valued at $57bn on the New York stock exchange. Walgreens on Wednesday unveiled the second part of an ambitious two-stage deal that will see it buy the remaining 55pc of Alliance Boots, the UK chemist, that is does own, completing a full-scale merger of the two companies.

Walgreens is paying $5.3bn in cash and 144m in new shares. Mr Pessina, who is chairman of Boots and will assume the same role at the new company, is expected to take between 120m and 130m of the shares. In the first phase of the complicated tie-up in June 2012, Walgreens acquired a 45pc stake for $4.6bn in cash and 83m shares, with 76m of the shares going to Mr Pessina. The American company has paid roughly $20bn in total for Alliance Boots over the two stages and will take on £5bn of its borrowings as part of yesterday’s agreement. The deal is expected to complete in February next year. Related Articles Boots' US deal a vindication of Pessina's grand design 19 Jun 2012 Mr Pessina will have also received roughly $188m in quarterly dividends from the US company since becoming a shareholder in 2012. He did not extract any dividends as a shareholder in Boots.

The newly formed company, to be called Walgreens Boots Alliance, will create a global health and beauty giant with more than 11,000 stores. Its headquarters will be in Chicago where Walgreens is based, defying a recent trend of so-called “inversions” where US firms have changed their base to the UK after a merger in order to cut their tax bill. Walgreen was founded by entrepreneur Charles Walgreen in 1901. Since then, it has opened more than 8,200 stores in the US. Boots, which traces its history back to 1849 when John Boot opened its first store selling herbal remedies in Goose Gate, Nottingham, has 3,150 stores across more than 25 countries. Mr Pessina took control of Boots in 2007 with the backing of KKR, the buyout firm. At the time, he was its biggest shareholder, having overseen a merger of the chain with Alliance Unichem the year before. The consortium delisted Boots from the stock exchange in Europe’s biggest ever private equity deal.

Mr Pessina’s influence on the global pharmacy industry had been steadily increasing since the 1970s when he joined his father’s wholesale business in Italy after studying as a nuclear engineer at Milan University. A natural dealmaker, Mr Pessina, 73, oversaw the takeovers of scores of independent pharmacies around in Italy, and in the 1980s and 1990s the company began expanding overseas into Portugal, Greece and France. In 1997, his Alliance Sante Group merged with Britain’s UniChem and eight years later, the enlarged company agreed a tie-up with Boots. An inversion deal between Boots and Walgreens would have been among the most high profile to date. However, the US company revealed it shelved plans, despite pressure from a group of hedge fund shareholders to consider the tax-saving deal. Greg Wasson, who will become president and chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance yesterday said that Walgreens had taken on an army of tax advisers and set up an independent special committee to analyse if the pharmacy chain could use the transaction to move its tax base.

However, Mr Wasson said it was not “in the best interests of our shareholders to attempt to redomicile outside the US”. Mr Wasson revealed that the US pharmacy giant had weighed the risks of political controversy, the threat of litigation by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the consumer backlash that could occur against the potential significant financial gain.

Question: In which British city was the pharmacy chain Boots established in 1849?
Answer: Nottingham